Warmth
by Horrendously Numb
Summary: Every teenager has his or her own secrets. Living the life he's lived so far, Gohan just didn't expect to find so many secrets almost at par with his. Nor, of course, did he expect to find that a lifetime of fighting had left him completely incapable of dealing with anything that wasn't a genocidal maniac.
1. Chapter 1

Videl I

He was tall.

He was tall, and he had dark hair, but above all: he was tall.

He was also cute, if Videl decided to go there. High cheekbones, aquiline nose, large eyes- Videl glanced over her shoulder at her friend and, sure enough, Erasa was already eyeing him appreciatively. No doubt Erasa would jump him the first chance he got. She may even offer him the empty seat next to hers, a notion that made Videl very angry. That empty seat and corresponding table space was the designated spot for books, shawls, laptops and what-have-you's that she, Sharpener and Erasa didn't quite need at the moment. Early in the morning, all it had was Erasa's bag slung across the seat, and Sharpener's sweater bunched up on the seat.

As Erasa, voice clear and high, called out to the new student (Gohan, he'd said his name was), Videl felt the corners of her mouth tug into a small smile; her friend's predictability in these matters was, in its own way, comforting, not to mention entertaining.

Videl turned her head to see what her other friend was doing. True to his predictable nature, Sharpener had not yet deigned to even look at Gohan. The boy was still leaning back in his chair, eyes closed, self-satisfied smirk on his face from the nerd comment he'd made earlier. _If it were up to him_ , she thought, _he wouldn't acknowledge the new guy till March_. She paused, leaned over and flicked him on the ear.

"Get up, Sunshine," she informed him as he cracked one eye open to glare at her, "Time to dust up and bring out the jock archetype you cling to so badly for the new guy."

"Hilarious, kiddo." Came the disgruntled reply, "Can we expect little Miss Snow Queen to join me for the opening act?"

Upon hearing no reply, Sharpener sat up to properly glare at her, but Videl had already wandered her attention over to the new boy, who was by now halfway to where they were. He was quite thin, wearing a loose white shirt, black vest, and unfortunately red pants. He noticed her stare and caught her eyes; Videl narrowed her eyes on reflex as he smiled. He, in turn, held his hands up in surrender, smiling all the way.

By the time he'd reached their table, Videl felt more than a little hostile towards him. In stark comparison, Erasa jumped right into action, shooting him a dazzling smile as she leaned over and pulled her bag and Sharpener's sweater towards herself and freed up the seat.

"Transferring schools in the middle of senior year… very impressive" she said, "I can only imagine the kinds of trouble you must've caused in your old joint to have to leave so suddenly." Her eyes danced as she spoke. Videl could almost see the daydreams Erasa was having, of finally finding some hardened rebel with a heart of gold that only she could bring out.

No such luck. "Actually," Gohan began, rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner, "This would be the first school I've ever gone to. I've been homeschooled all my life."

Videl raised an eyebrow against her will at that, hostility quickly dissipating into a burning curiosity. Growing up in the metropolis that was Orange Star City, she had never met someone homeschooled past the age of ten. While their teacher, Mister Albert Greene, opened the roster and began taking attendance with a clearing of his throat, Videl found herself going into study mode.

"Anderson, Angela." "Present!"

Study mode was a period of intense focus Videl had often employed both for and beyond her school activities. It involved taking rapid mental notes about a situation, person, location or attack pattern. The trick was not to filter out anything that may be judged as unimportant, but to note everything and create a holistic picture from the notes.

As Gohan mentioned to Erasa the mountains where he lived, and Erasa talked in a hushed whisper about the one farmhouse she'd taken with her family 3 years ago, Videl mentally noted the following:

 _Has a younger brother._

 _Badge brand new and placed very carefully and visibly on vest._

"Dylan, Kyle." "Here."

 _Mother made him stay home, now is making him live with a family friend and socialize. (Why)._

 _Smiles very consistently._

"Khan, Mya." "Right here, today and yesterday, Sir, so if you could-"

"Leary, Sharpener." "Sir."

 _Horribly red pants._

 _Hair very spiky for someone who appears to have lived in the mountains where hair gel would be scarce._

 _Very soft spoken and polite._

 _Does not seem to notice Erasa's hand is on his left forearm._

 _Is wondering why I am staring at him. Shit._

Thankfully, Erasa turned her head to give Videl a quick wink before turning back and smiling apologetically at a nonplussed Gohan.

"Oh, don't mind her," she whispered, "This is how she- oh wait a sec… PRESENT!- gets to know someone before extending the hand of friendship." She raised her eyebrows at Gohan, "You must be pretty special to warrant a stare-me-down this early on your first day."

"Sable, Frank." "Always a pleasure to see you so early in the morning every day, Sir"

Gohan let out a small chuckle at that. "Well, I'm flattered," he decided, and extended his own hand towards a now wide eyed and motionless Videl. "If I pass the preliminary screening, my name's Gohan."

Videl's eyes flitting to the hand, then to Erasa, then to Mr Greene, who was moments from calling her name, then to the window ( _clear skies, what luck!),_ and then raised her hand at the croaky call of "Satan, Videl,".

All the while, her head was scrambling for an equally friendly, yet condescending, yet harmless retort. At the four second mark, she had her answer and managed to look him in the eye to deliver it.

"Nobody with red pants and a perfect test score really passes any kind of preliminary screening, now do they?" She reached over Erasa and shook the hand firmly and quickly, before yanking it back, "Videl."

"Excuse me for being one of the very few actually thinking about equal pant color representation in the supposedly modern and diverse era of humanity." He replied, smile still genially present on his face.

He earned a giggle from Erasa at that, and as Videl didn't follow suit, she tried not thinking about how she actually had to work towards maintaining a neutral expression. Maybe she could be friends with him after all.

"Cute _and_ funny," Erasa commented, "My gosh, I just can't manage to find the catch with you."

Gohan laughed at that, his cheeks turning pink.

"No, no," he said, "I'm just like everyone else, warts and all."

"Yeah, Erasa," Videl chimed in, "Maybe he's just normal until he notices a physical flaw in his victims, and takes revenge by murdering them."

She wasn't surprised when Gohan gave her a confused look. Erasa responded by taking her hand off Gohan and lightly tapping Videl on the head in a pretend slap.

"Stop watching that stupid show about the hacker girl and the serial killer, babe," Erasa said, "You're scaring away the non-cinephiles."

"Eye Candy is not a stupid show!" Came the indignant response, "She's good with computers and good with getting the men in her life inadvertently murdered, which she manages to shake off by the next episode and it is brilliant."

"You've seen three episodes!"

"I am intuitive." Videl declared, with a final, dramatic shake of her head. She was smiling at this point- talking to Erasa for any length of time tended to make her smile, even when encumbered by the presence of a stranger. She quickly readjusted her face to a more somber expression, "And for the record-"

"Videl, if you cannot- ahem- pay attention, I'm going to have to ask you to- ahem- leave!" Mr. Greene called out, punctuating the last word with a short series of hacking coughs.

The reprimand made Videl flinch; she jerked towards the table and stared down at her book. Gohan stopped smiling and cocked his head, staring at her. Erasa also looked at her, for a moment, then turned to Gohan with another blinding smile and jumped on a new topic, while covertly giving Videl's hand under the table a quick squeeze.

"So, um, the mountains!" She whispered, assuming an even lower volume, "Must be nice to have all that greenery and nature and whatnot about. Tell me all about that." The last sentence was not a request, so much as a very sweet command.

"Okay, um, well, it's definitely nice to be around that much nature," Gohan said, after a beat. Videl wasn't looking anywhere but at the board, but she could _feel_ the new kid's eyes leave her and settle on Erasa. Videl felt her shoulders relax a little with the lack of attention, "A nice environment to spend whole afternoons reading, swimming, hiking, the works..."

It was at this point Sharpener decided to wake up and join the conversation. In his unique, arrogant manner, much to Videl's disgust, he interrupted Gohan's story (about how it was absolutely possible to see more than 5 types of trees in any given day) with a laugh and a smirk. Videl was pretty sure he practiced it daily to get just the right amount of douche.

"Well, we got another nerd to add to the archetypes of bodies here at Orange Star High," he noted, flashing Gohan a finger gun, "Allow me the pleasure of introducing you to our residential alpha male: tall, blond, ripped, and willing to show you the ropes. After all, it's only my civil duty to mph-"

He was cut off by Videl taking his sweater from Erasa's desk and throwing in his face, effectively cutting off his monologue. Erasa snorted in laughter. Videl sent a small nod Gohan's way.

"Don't mind him, he overcompensates for his lack of people skills by acting like a jerk." She told him.

"Kind of like how I overcompensate for being nervous on my first day of school by smiling too much," he quipped. He held his hand out behind Erasa's chair in Sharpener's direction. "Gohan."

"Oh, good, I thought that was some awful, permanent habit that would slowly drive me to punch you," Sharpener retorted, but he shook Gohan's hand all the same.

"Can we not with the banter?" Gohan requested, "Unless we are about to physically fight or end up kissing, it's just not something I find useful."

Sharpener's smirk turned into a genial grin. "Well, gee, that solves the mystery of what kind of books you like reading."

"I love romance novels, too!" Erasa exclaimed, "Oh my God, you have to tell me your favorites; Videl never indulges me."

"Weren't you sleeping, Sharpener?" Videl asked, "Or are we finally ready to admit our obvious eavesdropping problems to our friends,"

"Baby, I'll admit whatever you want once you admit to whatever it is you and Erasa spend your nights doing." Sharpener drawled, smiling at her in a bone-chilling gaze.

Videl wondered if the smile was supposed to be attractive _. No, he's just trying to be creepy because he knows how much it gets to me_ , she decided.

"Ever heard of studying, my friend?" Erasa asked him, leaning forward past Videl and placing her hand on Sharpener's well-built shoulder

"Ever heard of lesbians?" Sharpener countered. Videl rolled her eyes as the accusation that he ever so often brought forward in an attempt to goad them into telling the truth. She glanced over at Gohan to see his reaction- true to his test scores, he was diligently taking notes. Or at least appeared to be, Videl corrected.

"Honey, if it was even remotely possible for me to date a best friend, and said best friend happened to not be straight, we would be the greatest power couple the school has seen in its 60 years of existence," Erasa declared, "Although, don't let that stop you from your nightly imagination fantasy-scapes."

"You know I won't" Sharpener's roguish wink at the end of that comment made him look somewhat sick to Videl, "Really, though, what is it that makes you guys unavailable 7 nights out of any given 10? It's killing my social life."

"Yeah, well, make more friends," Videl mumbled, busy taking out her notebook. Class was fifteen minutes into session and she had yet to make a single note. And while she wasn't spending her nights shacking up with Erasa, she wasn't exactly studying either, and she needed to pay attention in class to make up for it.


	2. Chapter 2

Gohan I

Class was minutes from ending, and Gohan was nearly asleep. Public school was a mistake. He'd told Bulma, over and over, he was beyond this difficulty level. He'd covered intermediate calculus when he was eleven, for heaven's sake. He should be in college at this point. But Bulma had put her foot down.

"I don't care if you show up and they're learning the difference between a square and a circle," She dictated, pausing in the middle of her pacing to tower over a seated, bemused Gohan, "You have spent your whole life in the mountains, your only company is aliens on the warpath, a Namek that says 4 words every hour, and your family. And bless her heart, but if your mom sent you to me to make sure you get properly socialized and integrated into society before you leave for college, you'd best believe I am going to drag you, kicking and screaming, to that point!"

Gohan sat stiffly on the leather sofa in the den, lips tight. He listened to the whole monologue respectfully, nodded at the appropriate times and held his tongue. When Bulma was finished, he paused for another few seconds, and then repeated the same thing he had been saying for the past two hours.

"But I can help you here! Bulma, what was the point of teaching me so much engineering the past few years if you won't even let me use it?" He threw his hands up in the air, "You have a thousand employees that I can interact with just as well, you know."

"Those employees are all at least twice your age, kiddo," Bulma retorted, rubbing her brow with a well-manicured hand, "If you start dating a 38 year old scientist here, your children will be highly intelligent, but just what do you imagine your mom will say, hm?"

Unable to find a non-sarcastic answer, Gohan stayed silent. Bulma bent her knees slightly and put her hands on his shoulders in a reassuring squeeze.

"Gohan, I promise you, it won't be that bad." She said, in a warmer tone, "You've done a shitload for this godforsaken planet, and you deserve to see what's out there, at least, don't you? And you're still living at Capsule Corp., so don't you worry, I'll be giving you more work than you can handle."

Gohan stared at her forlornly throughout the lilting dialogue. When she was finished, Bulma stared at him expectantly, waiting for grateful praise on his part, on how she was so inspiring and so well able to make him see the light in all of this. When met only with silence, she promptly straightened up, and briskly walked out the door.

"Sulk all you want, Gohan," She paused and turned, right before she walked out, "It is the best high school in the country, and it's barely a ten minute flight from here, if Vegeta wasn't showing off when he flew there. So, you're going, regardless of your short-sighted opinions on the matter."

And, true to her word, Gohan sat in his first ever high school classroom a week later. He supposed it was nice of Bulma to get him enrolled mid-year. And besides being mind-numbingly dull, Gohan figured it wasn't too bad.

That blond girl, Erasa, was surprisingly friendly to him so far. Dressed in bright green and blue, she was bubbly and sweet, and put genuine effort into maintaining a comfortable conversation. The Blond boy, Sharpener, was as stereotypical as they got. Purple muscle shirt with tan khakis, and slicked back hair, Gohan wondered if the persona was intentional. Every word out of his mouth may as well have been variations of the word jock, far as Gohan was concerned.

That other girl, Videl, was of no particular interest to him either. Baggy white shirt, Black shorts, she seemed determined to blend in. Gohan definitely sensed a lot of repression in her- the one time she had relaxed her strained composure and used expression in her voice was when she was talking to Erasa. Once the teacher had caught them talking she had all but clammed up.

Gohan didn't understand repression. Growing up with Chichi, knowing Bulma and Vegeta most of his life, and with half his mentors forcing him to unleash his rage, he didn't quite know what to make of people so scared and silent. Nor was he particularly interested in said repression, so he put the matter out of his head till the bell rang, signaling the end of the second consecutive period of Calculus.

Gohan put his notebook back into his backpack and slid out of his chair. As he turned to step down towards the door, he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked over his shoulder to find a smiling Erasa, with a bag slung over her shoulder that she hadn't even bothered to open in class. Sharpener, meanwhile was enthusiastically mimicking the Mister Greene's cracked voice for the pretty girl at the desk in front of him, and Videl was immersed in her phone, tapping furiously.

"So," Erasa said, stretching the word out, "Any God given luck we have the same class third period, too?"

"Um," Gohan scrambled in his pocket for his timetable and fished it out, "I have Geography in room 312 next."

"Oh," Erasa's eyes brightened all the more. Gohan wondered how someone could be so expressive every time they spoke, and why it wasn't incredibly exhausting a way to live, "Well, Videl and I have Economics next, but we could show you where room 312 is, if you'd like."

"You are just about the most helpful person I've ever met, you know that?" Gohan replied, "I'd love some direction, I have a horrible head for navigation in any case."

"We were all the new kid, once upon a time," Erasa responded. Gohan half expected her to grab his arm and lead the way; instead, she spun around to face Videl and began scolding her in a very affectionate manner.

"Really, honey, you haven't even begun to pack your bag," she chided, reaching over and pulling Videl's bag towards herself, "Next period starts in five, and you know we've run out of absences in Dr. Wilkes' class,"

"Coming, coming, coming," Videl mumbled, sliding out of her chair without even bothering to push it back, staring at her phone all the time, "This goddamn app, I swear to God, I'm wondering if it's even worth the frustration."

"I'm sure when you wake up a little, you'll find many reasons why it's worthwhile to keep chatting it up." Erasa said, packing Videl's books into her bag, now ignoring the awkwardly standing Gohan.

"Men are pigs, dude, this is majorly gross."

"I know, Bee,"

"You should be doing this anyway, this is right up your alley," Videl linked her arm through Erasa's, and they started down the stairs. After a couple of steps they turned around and saw Gohan still staring at them. Erasa beckoned for him to follow.

Walking a couple feet behind them, he was able to listen in on their conversation. Gohan didn't really begrudge either of them for not including him. Videl had already been nice enough, and Erasa had all but rolled out the red carpet for him. Besides, he was mildly curious as to what they were talking about.

"…And! And, and, and!" Erasa was saying, "You're exactly his type. He wants hard-to-get girls that are actually capable of feeling shame. I'd be called on my bluff in an instant," She laughed at herself at that. They were walking the halls now. Gohan glanced at his watch (three minutes to go) and hoped his class was nearby.

"You absolutely have to take over in Economics, though," Videl protested, as they went down a flight of stairs, "My head was not made to understand indifference curves."

The pair of them paused abruptly at the foot of the stairs. Erasa pointed at the first classroom on the right.

"There you go, Gohan," she announced. Videl stared at the teacher that strolled into that class and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Oh! You got Miss Ammara," She commented, "I really like her, she spends the whole of our class shooting down Sharpener's horribly inappropriate attempts at flirting."

"Got it." Gohan nodded, pretending to write down a memo, "Note to self: no flirting with 30 year old teacher. God, you'd think they print that in bold in the student handbook."

Erasa giggled at that, and Videl cracked a tiny smile.

"Oh, they totally do," Videl said, "This is still public school, remember?" Gohan laughed. He found himself feeling sorry that they didn't share this class with him- he doubted he'd come across people this friendly with no effort on his part in every class.

As Erasa waved him goodbye, Videl stretched her hands up above her head, yawning. Gravity pushed up her sleeves, and Gohan glimpsed a deep purple bruise on her upper arm, near her shoulder. Purple meant it was a day or so old, but it was large, and severe.

"Videl," He started, and then paused, not sure how to proceed without ruining the friendly atmosphere.

"Yeah?" she asked. She stared at him, frowning.

"What- what happened to your arm?" Gohan asked the question as casually as he could. It wasn't an easy feat- this wasn't the kind of bruise you got by just bumping into a door. It was closer to the kind of bruise you got when someone threw you against a door.

"Oh, um," Videl appearing to think for a moment, eyes flicking to the upper left, "I fell down some stairs last night. It was brutal." She stared him resolutely in the eye as she spoke, as though her soul was repeatedly telling him 'I am telling the truth'.

Erasa promptly sped behind Gohan and pushed him towards room 312.

"Believe me, buddy, you do not want to be late for Geography with Miss Ammara," she said, as Gohan allowed her to propel him towards the class, Videl following, "So, here we leave you. See you soon!"

Before he walked into the class, twenty seconds to go, he saw them walk away, Videl's head resting on Erasa's shoulder for support, her shoulders sagged. She looked tired, to say the least. Gohan wondered how many stairs you'd have to fall down to land squarely on your shoulder without fully dislocating it.

The pair turned into a class two rooms away from his, and Gohan entered his own, walking towards the teacher's desk with a principal's note that explained his situation, and being careful not to smile too much when he saw the front row occupied with teenage boys- half hopeful, and half already dejected.


	3. Chapter 3

Videl II

Videl tried stifling an incoming yawn with the back of her hand. Three seconds later, still mid-yawn, she began to wonder whether four hours a sleep every night was enough to sustain your average eighteen-year-old. When she'd been younger, she could spend days on just a couple hours of sleep, with little impairment in her day-to-day life. The problem had been her constant, recurring nightmares- if she experienced one, she'd spend the whole next day jumpy and hostile.

The nightmares hadn't been bothering her so much in the last couple of years, and her body was slowly demanding more and more sleep with time. Sometimes she'd wake up in the morning and not see any eye bags and get very confused. Videl dreaded the fateful day she'd fall in with the 8-hours-a-day crowd. How on earth was she going to do college with an 8-hour-sleep schedule. The mere thought of it was enough to force her to shake the sleep out of her head and copy off the carefully labelled indifference curves on the whiteboard.

Next to her, Erasa leaned back in her chair, laser-focused on the phone in her lap. Whatever creepy line the guy was throwing at her, she was catching and throwing right back. She was admirable in her resilience. Videl wouldn't have lasted 3 hours flirting with perverts begging for nudes. Erasa had helped her make it four days.

Soon, they'd get this freak of nature to 'convince' their profile of a sixteen-year-old girl (VIdel in a wig) to meet him in his apartment, and they could actually get things going. The first time they had done something like this, Videl wondered in sixteen was maybe too young, that an officer of the law like the one they were texting wasn't so creepy and stupid that he would try to go after a girl so young. But there you go, here they were. Men should all be locked up, she decided.

She repeated that thought to Erasa once the fourth period bell rang, signaling lunch break. Erasa hummed in approval, flashing a grimace towards the phone.

"Yeah, they should," she agreed, "Starting with this one. Too bad he keeps insisting on meeting in a motel."

"Fuck, he's more careful than we thought."

"Yeah…" Erasa trailed off, staring absently at the last wink emoji he'd sent, "Honey, we may have to send him a picture to get anywhere."

No sooner had Erasa spoken, Videl covered her face with her hands and all but banged her head on her desk. Erasa laughed and pet her head a few times.

"Hey, now," she began, in falsely pleasant tones, "It's for the good of the nation, okay? One stranger jacking off to a photo of you in exchange for dozens of young girls saved from a similar fate, and worse."

"Men are awful," Videl groaned. Erasa, meanwhile, pulled at her arms in an attempt to get her to stand up. After a few seconds of struggle, Erasa won and dragged up a thoroughly discontented Videl. once she got her upright, Erasa gave her an encouraging slap on her shoulder.

"Yes. Yes, they are, Now, pack up and let's go to lunch!" she announced. On their way out, Erasa shoved the phone they shared in front of Videl's face. It was open on the gallery.

"And pick a pic, while you're at it" she said, "Oh, hey, that rhymed! If any of our marks ever want humor in their would-be victims, they're in luck."

Videl pursed her lips and rubbed her shoulder bruise as she weighed her options. None of these pictures were especially scandalous. Varying degrees of cleavage in sunglasses, shots of her looking over her shoulder in skin-tight jeans and tank tops, lots of close-ups of her face, with its expertly applied makeup (by Erasa) and different colored lenses and hair. It normally took time to find an appropriate picture; even harder to find one with a brown, chin length bob, and grey eyes.

"Y'know, we really, really need to organize our pictures better than using two folders titled Erasa and Videl," she commented. Erasa grabbed Videl's hand off her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Stop doing that, I know it hurts when you do that," she admonished, "If we get any more organized, they'll revoke our teenager cards."

"We're eighteen," Videl reminded her, "They've probably already revoked our cards, and we've been too busy to notice. Hey, you've been texting Mr. Gross more than I have, what do you think he'd like?"

"Hmm," Erasa pondered the question, using a finger to flip through the pictures rapidly, "Well, he likes the girly type, so," she trailed off and suddenly paused the flipping. "This one!"

Videl fidgeted with her nails and turned away from her best friend, pretending to think about it. The photo had the correct coloring, she figured. The dress she wasn't so sure about. It was a yellow off-the-shoulder A-line dress to her knees. The angle of the photograph was up high, and the focus was on Videl's shy smile as she looked up, as well as on the skin showing from her low-cut outfit. She hated this aspect of their job almost more than any of the others. The thought of these adult men, leering at her picutures made her want to vomit; then again, she couldn't leave this part to Erasa alone- it just wasn't fair. Not to mention, most of them had to look like her. She was the one going on the dates, after all.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," she mumbled, "Whatever works for this douche."

As if the word had magical summoning powers, Sharpener turned a corner and walked in their direction. He had one bulky arm around Gohan's shoulder and seemed to be spewing his quote-end quote wisdom. Gohan, meanwhile, was subtly leaning away from the blond boy and the range of his spit. As both pairs walked towards each other, he met her eye and gave a knowing smile. Videl lifted her head in an understanding nod, then thought better of it and shifted her gaze away. If she could spend 6 years getting to know Sharpener and still be alive, he could handle a few minutes without buckets of sympathy.

"…And, honestly, the second you have a sidepiece, you can just stop trying altogether." Sharpener drawled, "Because then, like, the evidence is right there. You're a legend. All problems solved." The four fell into step and moved to the cafeteria in a group.

"Hi, Erasa," Gohan greeted her, "How was Economics?"

"Oh, wow, nice memory," Erasa commented, twisting her earring around, "It was a lovely nap, thanks for asking."

"Rase, you'll never guess." Sharpener said, "Ammara has a thing for this nerd. She loved him. He mentions one island in the Caribbean and suddenly it's all 'such a good student' and 'the rest of you could learn a thing or two' and 'Sharpener you look like you're going to be sick'."

"Sick with jealousy?" Videl raised an eyebrow, "Gain some standards, Sharp,"

"Ouch" Gohan clenched a fist over his heart and feigned a pained expression, "Nerds have feelings too, y'know."

"No. no, no," Videl shook her head, turning her attention to her feet, watching them step in rhythm, "I, uh, meant that as more of a dig on Sharpener, than, um, anything else."

"Yeah, yeah, I gathered," Gohan detached himself from sharpener and moved towards her. Putting on a smile, he continued, "We nerds have thick skin. It's all the indoor activities."

"You are pretty pale," Sharpener noted, "Need to get some sun if you're gonna stand a chance with the chicks here."

"Aw, being referred to as poultry," Videl made sure to draw out the w in aw, "No wonder Tris can only spend her lunches with you every alternate day."

"We're playing it cool, if you must know," Sharpener shook his head, his long golden locks flowing off his shoulder, "It'd be suspicious if we spent all our lunches together. 60% of the fun of hooking up is in the secrecy."

"That why you told us about it twenty minutes after it happened?" Erasa asked him, eyes batting wide open.

"You guys don't count. Telling you is, like, telling my cat." Sharpener flashed them a grin, "You might not care, but, eh, who're you gonna tell?"

"Very sweet." Erasa said dryly, "Gohan is here, though,"

"Oh, right," Sharpener sent a death glare Gohan's way, "Don't tell a soul, nerd boy, or I'll, you know. I'll beat you up. Or put you in a locker. Whatever you prefer."

Gohan laughed, "God, you're pretty considerate. No one who beats me up ever asks so nicely."

She, Erasa and Sharpener stopped a few paces from the cafeteria, and Erasa threw her arms around her. Gohan opened one of the doors of the cafeteria, but then paused and turned around when he noticed no one was following him in. Erasa was hugging Videl, who wasn't so much hugging back as she was sagging on to her for support. Sharpener stood a few paces off, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You guys gotta hug so hard every time you separate?"

Gohan walked back the few paces toward them. "All good?" he asked.

"Yeah, Videl's not really doing so hot, so she's going to go lie down in the sickroom," Erasa grabbed Videl by the shoulders and gave her a look, the kind of look you'd place a copyright sign next to.

"Yup, yup, that's the plan," Videl smiled weakly, then shot a glance at Gohan, "Um, did you say you get beaten up?"

Gohan laughed at that. A little too loudly, Videl noted. "No, that was just in service of the joke. People this tall don't usually see too much assault."

"Oh," Videl cocked her head, "Well. If that's all," she waved them goodbye and walked off. As she left, she heard Erasa call out, "Ooh hey, there's Tris, let's all sit together, huh?"

She smiled. Too bad she had an hour of training to fill in, and the crappy school gymnasium would have to suffice. She'd have killed to see a red-faced Sharpener stammer his way through lunch with the coveted Tris Lewis.


	4. Chapter 4

Gohan II

Gohan could never have guessed that Sharpener was the pining type. But after watching him stare at the pretty redhead across the expansive cafeteria for twenty minutes straight, there was little doubt in the matter. He'd barely said a word, leaving him and Erasa to keep up the conversation. And keeping up the conversation was already challenging enough with a capsule full of food, which was holding most of his attention.

His two new friends had gaped at the amount of food he'd brought with him. Five burgers, a platter full of pasta, three servings of fries, and a few apples. Of all things to betray his façade of normalcy, if his appetite was going to be his undoing, Gohan was going to punch Vegeta next time they trained.

As they ate, Erasa kept rolling her eyes at the lovestruck boy next to her, finally snapping and twisting shut her pink tinted water bottle with more force than necessary.

"God, this is sad," she snapped her fingers in front of Sharpener's face, catching his attention, "Go talk to her, or start joining in on our conversation. It's no fun having you all gloomy."

Sharpener spluttered in defiance, "I-I-I am _not_ being gloomy. And we- we do not need to talk. We do just fine doing our thing."

"Your thing is this weird friends with benefits arrangement, which is just random boning, since you've cut out the friends bit."

"We _are_ friends! Just last week we spent the afternoon hanging out at the mall."

"You _met_ her at the mall when she was with her friends, for ten minutes, and she still managed to make you buy her a necklace." Erasa corrected, "Great friendship. Very equal."

"Are you for real?" Gohan spoke before he realized what he was saying, "Actually, no, is she for real? That's kind of crazy."

Erasa propped her chin on her hand and turned her head to one side. "Never liked a girl before, Gohan? Makes you act _real_ pathetic, just ask Sharp."

"No one's pathetic if you go for friend's with benefits. Nothing to lose but. You know. Sexytimes."

It was pretty clear to Gohan that friends with benefits wasn't the ideal situation for Sharpener, "Is friends with benefits really good for anyone? Not that I know what I'm talking about here, but it sounds tough if the other person's…" Here Gohan noticed Erasa rapidly shaking her head, but couldn't seem to stop himself from finishing his sentence, "Not as into it as the other."

Sharpener's eyes flashed and he pushed his chair back with a screech. Gohan figured he was going to grab his shirt collar or something, but Erasa grabbed his wrist before it could reach him and yanked him back to his seat. _She has good reflexes. That was pretty precise._

"Sharpener, calm down, you're not pretend-threatening anybody." Erasa turned a serious face to Gohan, "Gohan, honey, by your own admission you don't really know what you're talking about. So, like, you're welcome to comment right after your first fling or whatever."

Gohan opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He wasn't about to get on his new friends' wrong side already. No matter how stupid their relationship problems may be. "Point taken, yeah." He cleared his throat, "What happened to Videl, by the way? Or is 'not feeling too hot' some kind of code."

Sharpener crossed his arms and slouched in his chair, staring sullenly at Tris. Erasa's eyes softened at his query. _Man, am I glad she loves that girl so much._ "Videl doesn't sleep much. Sometimes I'll make her nap during lunch period just so she doesn't collapse, y'know?"

"Her parents have no problem with her collapsing from lack of sleep?"

Erasa waved a hand dismissively, "Her dad's never around. She barely sees him once a month, he's always travelling. He's Mister Satan, y'know? Savior of the known world and all."

Gohan choked on half a dozen fries. "Her _dad_ is Hercule Satan? _Really?_ You're kidding"

 _That clown. God, she must get her genes from her mother._ He wondered if she was as arrogant or crooked as her dad was. Not that he minded not getting the credit. He imagined the lack of privacy that came with being the savior got old before too long.

Erasa shrugged halfheartedly, "Yeah, yeah, that's the usual reaction. Anyway he has lots of tours and judges lots of competitions, so he's on the road lots. I've known Videl half my life, and I've only seen him a handful of times."

"Er- wow! Interesting." Gohan smiled politely, "Okay, and her Mom?"

Erasa met his smile with a sad one of her own, "Mom's not in the picture either."

"She died when Videl was four." Sharpener leaned forward, "Don't mention it, though, obviously."

"Um, yeah, of course." Gohan resumed eating at full speed, to cover the awkwardness. Four was too young to be left with that buffoon of a father. She may have grown up with serious neuroticisms. No wonder she wasn't as friendly and open as her blonde counterparts.

Erasa was deep in conversation with Sharpener, leaving Gohan with some quiet. He felt himself slipping into meditation- a side effect of spending so much time with piccolo. He kept his mind blissfully blank till he heard the shrill school bell. Five minutes to get to another class he had no idea how to find.

"Listen, Sharpener, where are the biology labs?" He asked. Couldn't hurt to gauge just how upset Sharpener was with him over the friends with benefits comment.

"Peters building, first floor, near the gym." Sharpener wouldn't meet his eye, but he didn't sound too aggressive. Gohan labelled it not-too-lost a cause.

Erasa piled her and Sharpener's empty trays on top of each other and picked them up. Sharpener grabbed both their bags and they moved towards the entrance of the cafeteria.

"Bye, Gohan!" Erasa called on her way out. Sharpener raised a hand in farewell, though he still wasn't smiling. Gohan waved back, then capsuled his own empty trays and cutlery. Wiping his mouth with a paper towel, he grabbed his shoulder bag and jogged out of the second cafeteria doors that led out the building. One quick (very slightly superhuman speed) perimeter of the campus and he spotted the gym. There was one building right next to it. _That has to be it._

He slowed down to a speedy pacing and made for the Peters building. Busy trying to estimate how long finding the lab would take, he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, and as he passed the gym entrance he felt something bump into his arm and heard an "Oomph" as that something fell down.

He turned to find Videl, sitting on the ground, rubbing her head, face scrunched up. Her hair was in a bun, and she had changed her clothes into a light blue baggy sweater with black tights.

 _Shit._ He immediately dropped to his knees next to her and put a hand on her arm.

"Oh, God, are you okay? I didn't even see you." He jumped back when her eyes snapped open and gave him a withering look. She shook his hand off her arm roughly.

"Fuck, just, what _are_ you made of? Cement?" Videl put her hands on the ground and pushed herself up. She placed her hands on her hips and met his gaze, "I'm- look, I'm fine. It wasn't even totally your fault. Hope you didn't hurt yourself. Here." She held her hand out to him, to help him up.

Gohan stared at her. She made it seem like he was the one who fell over. _Well, if that's how she's comfortable._ He grasped her hand gingerly and lifted himself up using his knees. Saiyan bodies were much heavier than normal bodies; he doubted her small frame could pull him up.

Once standing, he had to take a step back to maintain eye contact without either of them straining their necks. "Thank you," He said, "Um. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I've fallen down before." Came the short response. Then, a pause, "How was lunch?"

"Lunch was nice. Nice, long discussion about the dynamics of casual romance, and all." Gohan raised an eyebrow as a thought occurred to him, "Hey, weren't you supposed to be napping, or something."

Videl lifted her chin defiantly, "Yeah, I was. You can nap in the gym."

"And then change your clothes?" Gohan studied her face. Heart shaped, purple eyebags under blue eyes. Enormous eyes, he clarified. He wondered how they looked when they weren't narrowed. The rest of her features were delicate, and stray wisps of hair that had fallen out of her bun framed her face. _Oh,_ he thought, _she's pretty._ Her eyes radiated so much wariness, it was hard to notice at first.

"My clothes wrinkle when I nap." No further information was volunteered. Gohan decided to drop the subject.

"Very well-planned of you," He nodded, "I didn't even think to find all my classes during the hour long lunch. Then again, I liked the side of Sharpener I saw. Defensive, yet awkward."

Videl's eyes lit up slightly at that, "I love Sharpener when he has a crush. He works best when he doesn't give you his full attention."

"I'm wondering if maybe Tris agrees with you," Gohan had his back to Tris for the majority of the lunch break, but he guessed she hadn't spent her lunch staring back at Sharpener.

"I'm still holding out hope that she comes around," Videl rubbed her shoulder absent mindedly, her gaze towards the school grounds, "Sharpener is nice, under all those layers of muscle shirts and body spray."

Gohan shrugged, "The teenage girl wants what she wants. Um, doesn't it hurt when you do that?"

"What? Oh," Videl stopped rubbing, but kept her hand where it was, "It's okay, I've seen worse."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Gohan smirked, "All that napping isn't very safe." Given who her father was, Gohan assumed she was training. _Training with little sleep and little nourishment. Man, she'd get along with Vegeta just fine._

Videl crossed her arms and jutted her chin out, "Okay, _what_ is your problem? Let it go, Sherlock." Her voice had a harsh edge to it. Some of the students walking by gave her glances, but most ignored them.

Gohan replied before he could think, "I'm surprised you expect me to. At least put some effort into your blatant lies."

Videl's mouth opened in indignation. Whatever scathing response she was about to send his way, however, was interrupted by a second, equally shrill, bell. Gohan ran his hand through his hair, clenching his jaw. He had discovered earlier today that hated being late to classes. All those people staring at him as he walked to the empty seats made his scalp prickle.

"Yeah, well, whatever," he moved past her, not bothering to look back, "See you around. Make sure you eat something after you _nap_ next time- you seem cranky _._ "

"I'll eat when I'm _dead,_ Shitlord!" he heard her yell back. Against his will, Gohan felt a wry smile forming. She had sounded a bit like Bulma back there. He walked into the building, trying not to pay attention to the fact that everyone was looking at him. He took the stairs four steps at a time and soon after found the room labelled 'Bio lab 3'.

This room wasn't set up like a lecture hall. There were about twenty tables in three columns, each table equipped with a microscope and a Bunsen burner that were attached to the structure of the desks. There were two tables to every desk. Gohan handed the elderly teacher his principal's note and, at his nod, chose an empty table two rows from the back. A girl who was in Geography with his grinned at him as he passed. Gohan returned the smile stiffly.

No sooner had he taken his seat, the door clicked open, and Videl poked her head through the door.

"Sorry, Mister Gale, may I come in?" Gohan couldn't believe this was the same voice that had chewed him out not three minutes ago. This voice was meek, and carefully tentative. "I tripped on the stairs on my way here."

"Ah, of course, Miss Satan," Mister Gale smiled at her kindly, and beckoned her in, "Since you're the last one here, you can pair up with the new kid. Maybe he'll rub his test scores off on you, hah heh."

Videl get him a tight smile, and walked with slow, deliberate steps towards Gohan, adjusting the hem of her sweater the whole way. Gohan moved to the seat nearer the window to make room for her.

She slid into her seat, and took her notebook out. Then she took out three pens. Then she moved them around on her desk at random times, while the teacher droned on about various immunological responses.

Gohan soon settled into a nice rhythm of note-taking and occasionally glancing at the tense figure next to him. She didn't seem to be writing notes, still having not decided on an appropriate pen placement. At the ten-minute mark, she looked over at him, but when he looked back, she quickly turned back. Gohan, turned back to his notebook, only to find that he had completely forgotten how to finish his sentence.

As he struggled to regain his easy rhythm of writing, Videl tapped his forearm. This time she didn't turn away when he stared at her.

"Sorry," she muttered, "You're not entirely a Shitlord. I mean, you could be. But it's too early to tell and I shouldn't assume. I think I'm just hungry. And tired."

"Maybe," Gohan chuckled, "Get a protein bar before your next class?"

Videl tilted her head, "Or a juice. Or a brownie. I got time." Her eyes wandered over to the wall clock over the projector screen, then to the table in front of them. The two at the table was obviously a couple- they sat close to each other, and her head was rested on his shoulder. In the dim light of the projected slideshow, the teacher failed to notice the PDA.

Videl clearly noticed it, however. She wrinkled her nose.

"God, what do they think this is? Twilight?" She gestured to them with her pen, "Get a private lab, or something, sheesh."

"No immunity response to hormones, huh?" Gohan replied. Videl covered her mouth with her free left hand, hiding the smile on her face.

"That was a horrible line."

"Will you never stop wounding me?" He realized he was actually smiling now; there was something sort of endearing about her antagonistic demeanor. It reminded him a little of Piccolo, early in their friendship.

She went back to her notebook, finally settling on a pen, and began writing down the information projected on the slides. Gohan stared at her for another second ( _That bun was precariously tied up at best, and looked ready to undo itself any minute),_ then followed suit. Bulma had taught him extensive physics and math, not biology.

As he wrote, he wondered if he should have an early dinner with his mother after his last class. It had been a couple of days. He also had to spend a couple of hours training with Vegeta- an unfortunate, unavoidable side effect of living at Capsule Corp. And then… Gohan's shoulders drooped as he remember the research project on magnetic resonance that Bulma had assigned him. True to her word, she was keeping his mind challenged. It was going to be a long night.


End file.
